Native Student Program valedictorian tells Indigenous stories through film

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Ruchatneet Printup had an entire career in New York state’s nonprofit sector before joining Syracuse University’s School of Visual and Performing Arts in 2019. Wrapping up his time at SU this year at 59 years old, he’s become a university scholar, a VPA scholar and a Haudenosaunee Promise scholar.

“I was taking it class by class, semester by semester. Just doing the best I could do,” Printup said. “So to see the accolades and the honors, I’m humbled by it. It wasn’t my intention. It was beyond my wildest dreams, honestly, that I would be recognized in this way.”

At this year’s Indigenous Graduation Celebration for the university’s Native Student Program on May 6, Printup was honored as the ceremony’s valedictorian. For Printup, however, the awards are secondary to the opportunities he’s had at SU to learn and grow his skillset.

Printup originally left for college at 18 and studied biomedical computing at Rochester Institute of Technology. Though, he felt the path wasn’t for him and left RIT to work for nonprofits across New York state, including Onondaga County.

He was inspired to return to school after producing a documentary about abuse in New York state’s Native American residential boarding schools called “Unseen Tears.”

“I knew that the nonprofit work I was doing had kind of run its course for me and was actively searching and thinking about what else I would like to do,” Printup said. “I’ve meditated most of my life and so it was really in meditation that it came to me, ‘You could go to Syracuse to be a film director.'”

The film came about after Printup applied for a short film grant through Native American Community Services, a non-profit in Buffalo where he served as the Community and Cultural Services Director.

He and his co-workers had heard stories about misconduct at residential schools in the state and felt that the issue was underreported in the United States.

Printup was among four out of 28 applicants to win a short film grant. He was paired with a graduate student from the University at Buffalo film program to create the documentary, which Printup produced. “Unseen Tears” was released in 2009 and one clip from the film has since received nearly 250,000 views on YouTube.

“It really brought a lot more attention, especially on the American side,” Printup said. “The Canadian side had already started to deal with it … but the U.S. has yet to reconcile anything about their history.”

Although he found the prospect of re-entering the classroom with 17- and 18-year-old peers daunting, Printup quickly adapted to the creative environment that VPA provided.

“Being an older student coming back, I was hungry for knowledge,” Printup said. “I took advantage of every single class. I really learned as much as I could from every instructor, from the students I was working with.”

Printup’s passion for filmmaking and education extended beyond the boundaries of the classroom. He was one of four VPA film seniors selected to make a trip to the Sundance Film Festival this winter, where he was exposed to a diverse range of voices in the film industry.

Alex Méndez Giner, one of Printup’s professors and his mentor during the university scholar selection process, believes that Printup making films in New York, specifically upstate, would benefit all aspects of the area’s film industry. What’s most exciting to him, Méndez Giner said, is that Printup wants to continue to produce work in the upstate region.

After he graduates, Printup plans to continue working in the industry and honing his skills as a director. He hopes to continue working in both the narrative and documentary forms but is particularly interested in independent narrative film.

“I look forward to following him and his future success because I think he has the skills,” Herold said. “He’s a good screenwriter, he’s just a good storyteller, and he’s also a lovely person that people want to work with. So I think he’ll go far.”

Herold accompanied Printup to Sundance and helped him secure a grant to fund his senior thesis film, “Smoke.” The film is a personal look into the communities where he has lived all his life. It follows a young mother who, like Printup, was born and raised on the Tuscarora Nation in New York’s Niagara County.

One of Printup’s goals with the film was to create something that was “authentically Native,” and to honor his community in ways that non-Native filmmakers typically do not. He said that non-Native filmmakers often portray Native people only as figures of the past. Instead, Printup wanted to tell a contemporary story about Indigenous life in modern America.

“For me, being raised in my community, and most of my life living in and around Native communities, I just come from that perspective,” Printup said. “One thing you learn as a filmmaker, I feel like you write about things you understand. If you don’t understand them, then you have to do a lot of research, but I’ve had a lifetime of research.”

While drawing on his own personal life experiences, Printup’s goal was also to honor the diversity of the Indigenous community. He kept in mind that Indigenous experiences in America are vast and varied. His mission as an artist was to accurately depict his own lived version.

“The definition of Native is so broad, or Indigenous, and we all have different experiences,” Printup said. “Some of our community members are raised in urban areas, suburban areas, rural areas. Some are raised within their community. Some are raised with their language, some are raised with their culture, with their ceremonies and so they’re going to portray their stories differently.”